Leading universities are to launch intensive American-style recruitment campaigns to talent-spot the brightest pupils in low-performing local schools, the universities secretary John Denham will announce today.

He will court controversy by suggesting that these universities should offer pupils from schools with a poor record of university entrance a place on condition of lower A-level results than applicants from high performing schools.

The plan, to be announced in his speech to the Labour party conference today, will prove deeply unpopular among independent schools, who say their pupils will be disadvantaged, and among some leading universities, which have accused the government of pressuring them to "dumb down" their entrance requirements.

Nine universities have signed up to the scheme and will identify schools that have not traditionally sent many pupils to university. As in America, universities will spend time selecting pupils for open days and interviews. The universities are Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, King's College London, Leeds, Leicester, Newcastle, Southampton and Warwick.

Oxford and Cambridge are currently not signed up to the programme, which was described as "embryonic" yesterday, but the minister is hoping to expand it rapidly after its introduction in 2010.

Crucially, pupils identified through the scheme will be able to apply to any of the universities taking part, to prevent them being limited to their local area. They will still have to pass interviews and get the required grades - even if those grades are lower than the usual offer.

An aide to Denham said the scheme would involve making "grade offers which are reasonable given the schools' background". Asked if that meant lower offers to pupils from schools that do not usually send pupils to interview at top universities, she replied: "That's the gist of it."

Denham said: "I have always been clear that we must allow the most talented and hard working of our young people to achieve their full potential, irrespective of what kind of social background they came from, or the school they went to.

"This does not mean imposing admissions policies on universities. But it does mean universities recognising their full responsibilities in helping to seek out and develop the best of talents."

Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group of research intensive universities, said they already work hard with local schools to inspire pupils to apply to university and they are launching courses for teachers on how to help pupils apply.

"We are more than happy to discuss a range of options - including ideas outlined in John Denham's speech - with [the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills] and other key stakeholders to minimise further the barriers that face some students. However, Russell Group universities are careful to ensure that the details and logistics of any new scheme are thoroughly thought through before they are agreed to and implemented," she said.

Les Ebdon, vice-chancellor of Bedfordshire University and chair of Million+ which represents new universities, said: "It sounds like exactly the work we have been doing for years."

A spokesman for the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), which represents 250 fee-charging schools, said: "What independent schools have always campaigned for is university admissions policies that are fair, transparent and based on published criteria.

"If overwhelmed universities take refuge in specious mathematical formulae, then unfair discrimination will be the result."